Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe (read more on wikipedia) represents a significant geographical part of European culture. The main socio-cultural characteristics of Eastern Europe have historically largely been defined by the traditions of the Slavs, as well as by the influence of Eastern Christianity, as it developed through the Eastern Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Another definition was created by the Cold War, as Europe was ideologically divided by the Iron Curtain, with Eastern Europe being synonymous with communist states constituting the Eastern Bloc under the influence of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (former Russia).

In its broadest definition, it comprises (though there is no universal agreement on its components) the following countries:

• Albania
• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Belarus
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Bulgaria
• Croatia, (alternatively placed in Central Europe)
• Greece (alternatively placed in the broader region of Southern Europe)
• Czech Republic
• Estonia
• Hungary
• Kosovo
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Moldova
• Montenegro
• North Macedonia
• Poland
• Romania (alternatively placed in Eastern Europe)
• Russia
• Serbia (only the area south of the Danube river)
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Ukraine

Under this extended definition, its regional components are:

• Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)
• South Caucasus states (Armenia, Azerbaidjan and Georgia - the latest not included in the Eastern Europe broader definition)
• Post-Soviet states (Moldova, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine)
• Central Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia)
• Southeast Europe & Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Turkey)